Hostile Waters: Ranma Rising
by AMWOOD co
Summary: Crossover with Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising. In 2012, the world gave up war and the warlike. Ranma was considered warlike. Now, 20 years later, others are bringing war to the world they want back. Rated for violence and language.
1. Ch 1: Repairs and Reunions

Disclaimer: AMWOOD co acknowledges that this product is a work of fanfiction detailing the characters and scenes of the manga/anime Ranma One Half and the video game Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising. This is distributed with no intention of profit and the characters and settings are the property of their respective owners.

Authour's Note: This story is initially published on the Anime Addventure (just google the two words before these parentheses) and is being reformatted for this site. It's probably the only work I'll be working on for a while as I hadn't worked any details for my GTO story before writing it other than what I've already written. Anyway, seven short chapters coming up.

* * *

Ranma looked out the open door from the VTOL bomber he was heading in on. The ship was there. The ship that was robbing him of what his life could be.

In 2012, his life was taken from him. Everything he had worked for, everything he had struggled for, was tortured through, and strived to be was to become useless. He was supposed to set aside his old fighting days and join everyone else with this progress forward to 'a better tomorrow'.

Ranma never was good at following the crowd. So, here he is, twenty years later, about to jump out of a plane as it passes over some kind of automated arm working on a massive ship that is the device that those bureaucrats want to use to bring him back to all the sheep. He just had to get on board and take out the captain, probably the only real person on the ship.

Ranma leapt out, seeing his chance. It's just a one hundred foot drop, and he hasn't let himself slack off at all. Then again, he was getting up there in years. This could hurt.

He rebounds off the arm, then to the ship, making sure to avoid the massive welding torch that the thing is waving around. He looks about and above. The plane he had just jumped out is had dropped its bomb on its first pass and was beginning to turn around for a second when a stream of missiles impact with it, turning into a hundred tonnes of scrap. He notices the weapon platform sitting on one of the carrier's vehicle bays, an automated turret that is probably about 20 metres high. Well, it won't mean much if he finishes his mission.

A few seconds later and Ranma enters the control room quietly. A single figure is standing in front of a massive control panel, showing a tactical map of the island and the ongoing combat. The captain, he figures, is calm, collected, and thorough, making sure that each of the simulated personalities of this Antaeus vessel are doing what they are supposed to.

Not for long.

Ranma jumps forward and strikes at the captain's right shoulder, breaking it with one blow, the sound of snapping bone evident and the shriek of pain.

The very familiar shriek of pain on the very familiar face that turns around to see him. Ranma's shock at this person being there results in very quick repercussions. Repercussions in the form of a bullet passing just under his left lung.

Both he and the captain slump, staring at eachother, their injuries being too much for the moment for either to do more than that as the suddenness of their situations pass.

"Hello, Saotome," the captain gives off with a snide smirk.

Ranma also smirks, not about to be undone. "Hello Nabiki."


	2. Ch 2: Confrontations and Confirmations

Disclaimer: AMWOOD co acknowledges that this product is a work of fanfiction detailing the characters and scenes of the manga/anime Ranma One Half and the video game Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising. This is distributed with no intention of profit and the characters and settings are the property of their respective owners.

* * *

Nabiki gave off a low, satirical chuckle. "So they duped you into protecting their hides, or did you really turn over a new leaf?"

Ranma looked at Nabiki. She was in obvious pain, probably feeling about as much as he did, though that just meant he was hurt more. Sure, he had worked to make himself bullet proof, but so far he was only so to a 9 mm or .20 cal at about fifty metres. Nabiki was holding an old Colt .45 in her good hand. It may not have the penetrating power of a 9 mm against body armour but it sure as hell did more damage to a body.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.

Nabiki's laughter picked up a bit more, the pain obvious in her eyes but she apparently couldn't help herself. "Oh, come on, Saotome. Do you really think that this thing is here just because there are a couple people unhappy with Central? They wouldn't waste their time or precious P.R. on a group of mere malcontents with a few helicopters and tanks."

Ranma glared at her now, wishing she would just get to the damned point.

She returned the stare. "Fine, I'll spell it out for you. They…"

_"Captain, come in. We detected gunfire in the control centre. Is there anything wrong?"_

Nabiki sighed as she was interrupted. She glared hard at Ranma as she stood up, as if daring him to do anything. Without taking her eyes off of him, showing that determination that had old Pineapple hire her as his Evil Queen, she turned the communications systems on. "This is Control, Central. Just had a run in with an old acquaintance of mine." She looked at Ranma, as if recalling something. He knew exactly what. "In fact I think you know him, Walker. Come on, Ranma, say hi."

Ranma just kept glaring at her but responded. "Hey, you prick. Air getting thin in your city of clouds yet?"

_"Saotome? What in God's name are you doing there?"_

Ranma's attention turned to the microphone set into the panel. "Exactly the same thing as when I left, trying to reclaim the life you stole from me."

_"But why them, Saotome? What happened to you? Why would you join up with those maniacs?"_ Walker's voice seemed almost pleading.

Ranma looked at Nabiki. The soft face he once had now grizzled with age and signs of a constant moody disposition not revealing any confusion but rather contempt. "What's he talking about, Nabiki?"

Nabiki lowered her head as if expecting this. She turned around and set the gun down, typing with her one good arm as she spoke. "Walker, send a medical team up here now. The battle's over and we're both injured. Don't worry, though, it's nothing a quick nano-injection won't fix. I'm going to show him some news clips in the meantime."

_"Alright, Captain. Good luck. And Saotome, if you didn't know about all this, I hope you'll help us. We could really use it."_

Ranma decided that he liked hearing Walker sound needy and helpless. That arrogant bastard had cost him his livelihood twenty years ago and now he was practically scraping at Ranma's feet for favours and help.

The only thing is Ranma's help didn't come cheap anymore.

Nabiki finished typing and turned around, glaring once again. Her eyes were hard with anger and… pain? "Now you listen the fuck up, Saotome. This…" she said, pointing at the screen showing one of the pristine cities of this 'new world', "…was south-eastern London yesterday at 10:40 am local time."

Ranma looked at the screen, having seen such things before. He just looked in disgust as everyone went about their day as if everything was perfect in the world. Then he saw something move down from above and a massive flash. He watched as the nearly sky borne streets and buildings began to topple and people were thrown into the abyss that was likely a three hundred metre drop. It would be like skydiving without a chute. He turned his eyes to Nabiki, complete shock on his face.

"This…" she said, pressing a button, showing another city. This one appeared to be a factory area. "…was Berlin, two ago." He watched again in horror as a volley of missiles crashed into the city area, likely killing every soul there. These people were sheep, but even they didn't deserve to be slaughtered for just living.

"This…" Nabiki's voice choked up as she said that last word. She showed another city, this one in the more traditional residential style built on the ground. "This was Tokyo's north-western districts, three days ago." Ranma watched the screen, seeing the missiles destroy everything. No one could have survived all that. Nabiki's voice came back to her with more than a touch of rage. "They bombed north-west Tokyo, Ranma. They bombed Nerima! Daddy, and Kasumi, and…"

She dissolved into sobbing at this point, choking words out almost randomly. "Dead… they all died… and you're working for them…" A hard glint returned to her eyes as she picked her gun up once more, pointing it at him. "Unless you swear to me on your honour that you had no idea of all this, Ranma, I swear to all the kami I'll kill you right here."

Ranma looked up at Nabiki; she was manic. She wasn't here just for justice. This was personal. Justice would be served, but she wanted revenge. At this point she didn't seem to care who got it.

But all he could manage to do was stare at her in horror. Was all this real? "They're dead? She's dead?"

Nabiki stepped forward, pain forgotten in her rage, though her arm was still limply clutching at her side. "Yes, Ranma, they're dead. They're all dead! Even Akane! Everyone who didn't leave with you died three days ago, so you better say you didn't know, or so help me, I'll redecorate this floor with your brain!"

He was silent for just a second. "I swear I didn't know. I swear. Oh, kami, what happened? Akane?"

Nabiki watched as the greatest of the old Nerima gang dissolved into tears for a woman he hadn't seen in almost twenty years, one that she knew he had feelings for. Ranma never had a good Poker face, and while she knew he could have picked one up, there was no doubting the grief she heard in his voice. It was the same grief she had wailed three days ago, the day the cruiser came online, when she found out.

She put her sidearm back in its holster and pressed the comm. Button once more. "Walker, where's that medic?"


	3. Ch 3: Past and Politics

Disclaimer: AMWOOD co acknowledges that this product is a work of fanfiction detailing the characters and scenes of the manga/anime Ranma One Half and the video game Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising. This is distributed with no intention of profit and the characters and settings are the property of their respective owners.

Authour's Note: This scene is a naration. **Bold is voice over.** _Italics is what is being seen. _For anyone familiar with Hostile Waters, think the combat video with Ransom.

* * *

**I was trained to be the best.**

_Ranma, about thirty years old, is seen charging several men. His opponents are armed with assault rifles and combat knives. He has some kind of body armour._

**I was always struggling to be the one who always came out on top.**

_Several of his opponents stop and begin to fire at him. Ranma dodges most of the rounds, some deflect off of hardened plated on his limbs, others are absorbed into the thickly woven cloth on his torso. He dives right in._

**And you know what? I was. I was the best.**

_Ranma is seen throwing punches, kicks, and opponents about. In no more than five seconds his half a dozen assailants are all unconscious._

**But then the world changed. Suddenly, they didn't need anyone to be the best.**

_Several soldiers come from behind Ranma and surround him. They are wearing uniforms that are almost identical to his own. Their weapons are raised to his chest. One of them is holding a pistol and is talking, but there is no sound from his voice._

**They said that the fighting had to stop. That what I did wasn't needed anymore. They wanted me to give up everything I had trained, struggled, been tortured, and fought for.**

_The scene zooms in on Ranma, showing his head bowed, his fists clenched, his body beginning to shake._

**Was I going to just give up everything I was for them?**

_Ranma looks up, fierce determination and defiance in his eyes._

**Hell no.**

_Ranma begins to fight the soldiers surrounding him, starting with a punch to the face of the officer who had been talking._

**I wasn't about to just give up and lie down like some good little dog on their say so. I wasn't about to just have them dictate my life for me. I wasn't going to just lose everything I had trained for in the past twenty-five years.**

_All too quickly, the fight is over. Ranma stands in the middle of two piles of bodies, all unconscious, all breathing. He spits on the officer after throwing him on top of the soldiers that had tried to take him prisoner._

**I'm Ranma Saotome, and I don't lose.**


	4. Ch 4: Backstory and Betrayal

Disclaimer: AMWOOD co acknowledges that this product is a work of fanfiction detailing the characters and scenes of the manga/anime Ranma One Half and the video game Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising. This is distributed with no intention of profit and the characters and settings are the property of their respective owners.

* * *

"Walker," a woman in a white dress began to inquire, "who is this Ranma Saotome?"

A man in a formal three piece suite, apparently Walker, responded, "I suppose you could call him an old colleague. Remember the end of the wars, Church?"

"How could I forget? We lost a lot of people those last few days. Killed at least as many. I don't like to think of it much."

"Neither do I, but there are some things that are worth mentioning again. Ranma's one of them."

"What did he do?"

"He wanted out." Walker was staring out a massive window into the city known as Central. The cityscape was massive, looking like New York at its height from a ground level office. It should be worth noting that the office Walker and Church were in was at least a thousand stories up.

"What do you mean? The fighting was done. He wouldn't have to kill anymore." Church seemed curious and desperate for answers.

"That's just it. He hadn't killed during the wars. Saotome was a hand to hand specialist. Not just a specialist but an elite. He fought his opponents at close quarters, always disarmed or disabled his opponents with non-lethal attacks and came out without a scratch. He had been born a fighter, raised a fighter, trained a fighter. Battle was his element, it was his home." Walker continued to stare out the window, a stony expression etched on his face.

Church looked out the window with him, seeking a comfort from the massive, peaceful city she had helped build. After a few seconds of silence she continued the conversation. "How could we help someone like that?"

"That's just it, Church, he didn't want help. He wanted to continue with his legacy."

"What?" Church seemed to scoff, "Fighting for the sake of fighting? Some kind of overly patriarchal 'I can beat you up so I'm better than you' mentality? A quasi-bloodlust?"

"Exactly." Walker looked away and headed for the massive desk with the computer terminals that they had been watching the progress of Antaeus, the adaptive cruiser, on. He navigated some old personnel files and brought one up. "Saotome has thrived in combat heavy environments since shortly after he was a toddler. He has fought the world's best and oddest since he was a teenager. He is probably the single most proficient combatant on a battle field on the planet. I wouldn't be surprised if he had jumped out of one of those bombers that was attacking the cruiser at the wet dock."

"That's 70 metres!" Church gasped.

"And he can do that with the same effort you or I use to jump off a table to the floor. The only reason we haven't lost our captain seems to be familiarity."

"What do you mean?"

"Captain Tendo's sister was engaged to Ranma Saotome."

"You mean…"

"Yes Church, and the only reason he stopped is because he knew captain Tendo, allowing her to get that one shot off on him. We're just lucky he wasn't wearing protective armour."

"Why the bitterness, though? I could understand disappointment, but he would still be able to find places where martial skill are prized. We haven't eliminated all the fighting arenas."

"That's because someone fucked up when the fighting was done. I was leading the soldier team sent with him on his last mission, Church. A group of fanatics that had held up within an underground bunker, the same mission that Captain Tendo's Mr Ransom went down. Ranma was at the front of the insertion team. I was in command. After the fighting, orders came in from above. They were, simply to place special operative Saotome under arrest for the betterment of the new civilization's government unless he swore to never lift a fist against another person in violence again for any reason."

"That's it? Swear to it?"

"Saotome's psych evaluation…" Walker brought up the file in question, "showed that he held his honour as the word of God. What he swore on was set in stone in his mind. He had been pushed around for years by those who knew this and were willing to take advantage of it."

"Like who?"

"Our captain for one. Well, Saotome didn't take it well. He trembled for a moment, my men had assumed it was in fear from being held at gunpoint by eight different people. So did I, in fact. Then he simply said 'Hell no' and proceeded to knock each one of us out. I was disabled first, but knocked out last. I remember having to wipe his spit off my face after I came to."

"And he just walked away?"

"He slipped away. It was assumed he perished on that island as nothing was left behind for a man to survive on. We never found him."

Church seemed apprehensive. "So what now? We have a potential asset and potential liability. He has the skill and a grudge and now a motive for revenge against his old employers. Whose side is he on?"

"His own, Church. It's just that right now, we're fighting for the same thing. To see that these bastards never hurt anyone again."


	5. Ch 5: Souls and Stasis

Disclaimer: AMWOOD co acknowledges that this product is a work of fanfiction detailing the characters and scenes of the manga/anime Ranma One Half and the video game Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising. This is distributed with no intention of profit and the characters and settings are the property of their respective owners.

* * *

"So, what do we all know of the new recruit?"

If one could see it physically it would seem to be a bunch of floating heads in empty space in a circle. Of note were three American men; three Brits, two men and one woman; and a Russian woman. Behind the lot of them were a group of individuals that were only half formed, apparently still being compiled from the extremely fragmented memory archives of the ship's computers. It was one of the British men who spoke first.

"Who the hell cares; when am I getting a tank?!" yelled out one of the Yanks.

"Typical," the Russian pointed out. "Antaeus, mute P.H. Patton until further notice."

"Wha…" Patton began, only to be cut off by a 'BLEEP'.

"Acknowledged," came a feminine voice from nowhere.

"Thank you, cruiser. Patton, you may join in again when you have something constructive to say," the Russian woman, who had the name Korolev over her head, remarked. Apparently Patton had plenty to say but none of it could be heard, his mouth simply moving and his digitized face turned an interesting shade of red despite the lack of need for oxygen during his now muted tirade.

A heavily scarred American was the next to speak up. "Well, the kids a fighter, that's for sure. Seems he broke the Captain's arm with one strike."

The English woman then spoke up, "And then got himself shot."

An as yet silent man, wearing glasses, spoke up to the very first speaker. "Hey, Sinclair, you got any service files on this guy?"

"As a matter of fact I do, Kroker, but they are reserved for myself as second in command of…"

"Okay, got 'em." Kroker interrupted. Windows of information came up in front of everyone showing two pictures, one of a man about thirty, the second of a man about fifty.

The English woman looked over at Patton. "Are you going to behave if I un-mute you?" He just glared at her without any real heat. "I'll take that as a yes. Antaeus, cancel mute." She was acknowledged with another 'BLEEP'.

"Thank you, Borden," Patton acknowledged then turned to glare at Korolev, "at least one of you knows how to act like a lady."

"Oh stuff it Patton. I'm no lady," Borden bit back.

Patton seemed unfazed as he ploughed on. "So, is this boy one of the cavalry?"

The last member of this motley little crew joined in, "Seems more like one of the infantry. Special ops stuff. Seems sort of like you, Kroker."

"Naw, he's a jock with a good right hook. Though lookee here, looks like he was in the battle that had Ransom join our little brotherhood."

The scarred man grinned at that. "Good. Nice to see someone made it away from that."

Sinclair sighed at the insubordination of this lot. "Kroker, you really shouldn't be going through the personnel files of others. It is against regulations."

"What are you going to do, court-martial a dead guy?" Kroker seemed positively smug.

Sinclair just sighed again. He was powerless unless the Captain acted on all this. "Well at least let's take a more detailed look then. Close combat specialist… infiltration and elimination… no body count?"

"The boy's a pansy?!" Patton yelled.

Korolev piped in, "If you count knocking out almost a thousand men over six years of field service a 'pansy' without any wounds worse than…" she stopped in shock.

Kroker, however, burst out laughing, "…a stubbed toe!" His digitized head fell to the side as he laughed so hard. Everyone's shock at the record changed to mild shock at Kroker's continued shenanigans. The hacker was always doing things like this, but this was the first time he made himself start 'rolling on the floor, laughing'.

Things started to break up at that point. Borden, Patton, and Ransom lost interest as Ranma seemed to be a minimalist in destruction. He didn't fill in where they cared. Korolev was decently impressed, though she wouldn't admit it, but logged off to prepare for the next mission, which was due to commence within the hour. Madsen, the British sniper, also left to prepare, having been forwarded special instructions for the next mission. That left the just recovering Kroker and Sinclair. Oddly enough, it was Kroker who spoke first.

"Good, they left. Sinclair, have you seen this link?"

"That's for Captain's use only, Kroker. Of course I…"

"Got it," Kroker interrupted.

Sinclair let off another sigh but didn't try to punish the subordinate. Instead he actually came closer to see what Kroker had found. The picture showing was not what he expected. "Who's that, Saotome's daughter?"

Kroker's grin became more pronounced. "Nope. According to this, that's Saotome."

Sinclair could only gape between Kroker's smug mug and the picture. Saotome was forty-eight years old, twenty-eight when last in service, and a rather well built man. The figure in the photo was 'well built' but was not a man, nor was she pressing fifty or even thirty. Instead it was a busty, redheaded, teenaged girl. But the time stamp indicated that the picture was taken an hour before Saotome's last mission twenty years ago.

* * *

Ranma was headed for the staging area. He had a feeling that he would be getting wet in this next mission and so had already changed forms. He walked past a terminal, seeing the usual picture of a globe with a dagger saying "Pugio in Averso Belli". Heh. "Weapon to avoid war" indeed. That's what he thought he was. Instead he had been played a fool, again. And now he was siding with the person who did it to him the most as a kid. But there were more important things than stupid childhood rivalries to think about.

Ranma heard a wolf whistle come from a speaker next to the monitor and turned to see a man's head floating on the screen. "Well, if you aren't one fine thing."

"What do you want, prick," Ranma snapped back. She had become disgruntled with people hitting on her in this body for the last forty two years. Whoever said beauty was a curse had no idea.

"Ouch. A guy can definitely feel that old geezer attitude coming out of that hot, little bod of yours if he knows what's underneath. Don't worry, Saotome, I'm just making introductions and confirming something I read. Name's Kroker. I'd shake hands, but I seem to be a little lacking at the moment."

Ranma stared at the screen for two seconds in silence before replying. "What are you?"

"You ever hear of soulcatcher?" A shake of the head. "Didn't think so. Basically, the American military came up with these chips planted at the base of your skull that were capable of downloading your entire personality so that you could be used and reused over and over again. Pretty cool stuff, actually. Only problem with it was that it would turn your grey matter into black matter." Ranma's face grimaced. "Yeah. So they decided that the best thing to do was to put it on active servicemen and only have it trigger when brain function began to shut down. As such, no wasted manpower and no legal issues with killing soldiers. If you're going to die anyway, why not use it to cheat death again and again?"

"So you're the downloaded brain of some dead guy?" Ranma was a little disturbed by this.

"Like I said, personality. All it can actually get it short term memory, decision making processes, limited skill set, speech patterns, and self image. Everything else is lost. There's only so much that early twenty-first century, secret, military technology can do. Anyway, I'll be seeing ya on the battle field."

"How? You're a computerized brain."

Kroker's grin reminded Ranma of his own in the mirror when he was younger. "You'll see." And then he was gone, his image replaced by the ship's coat of arms.

"Arrogant prick." Ranma turned around and kept walking.

* * *

Authour's note: So many errors... I think I got all the unintentional ones. Note to self, do not proof read original at 5:00 am with no sleep.


	6. Ch 6: Rescue and Repartee

Disclaimer: AMWOOD co acknowledges that this product is a work of fanfiction detailing the characters and scenes of the manga/anime Ranma One Half and the video game Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising. This is distributed with no intention of profit and the characters and settings are the property of their respective owners.

* * *

Ranma had a strange sense of déjà vu coming over him. There she was, in the storage bay of a cargo carrying helicopter, Pegasus they called it, flying towards a cabal base with the intention of slipping in, disabling a pilot and either taking a scientist away, or flying away with the chopper he was on, but first she had to be dropped on a mountainside.

"How'd she convince me to do this again?" she spoke over the radio. Apparently the world had advanced a good deal in twenty years without war in some areas used in war, communications for example. These radios were designed to pick up multiple frequencies while scrambling a message over several in near random intervals. Ranma's was small enough to fit in her ear without being uncomfortable.

It was the voice of the dead sniper, Madson, that responded, "Because she's manipulating and presumptuous?" Ranma fumed at that. It almost sounded smug.

"That and you haven't developed the balls to say 'no' to her," Ransom piped in.

"Okay, this is degrading. I'm getting lip from guys who've been dead for twenty years."

Borden's voice picked up over the link. "Aww, don't be like that. We like you." It was almost sultry the way she said it. It also made Ranma sure they were all laughing at her expense deep down.

"Ha ha ha ha. Look, he's blushing." Apparently, Kroker was openly laughing at her expense.

"Just remember the plan, Saotome," she heard Nabiki speak over the comm. line. Sure, she could be condescending, but this was 'business'.

It had also become personal.

The delay in the wet dock from Ranma's attack had led to a problem. Kunz had communicated to them some ways out that he was to be moved within a half hour, but the laser weaponry that the cabal had developed from his research was already gone. That meant that the original plan for getting Kunz out, using a chopper mounted long range laser to kill the pilot, was out. Instead, Ranma would have to go in and take the pilot out without alerting an entire base of trained mercenaries and soldiers.

Oh, joy.

Of course, the easiest way would be to ambush the first soldier Ranma's size, steal his uniform, dress up in it, memorize the guy's name, and simply walk through as if he belongs there. There was just one problem with that.

Ranma was the best. She wouldn't stand for acting as anything other than the best anymore. That meant no more disguises, no faking his voice, no dressing up. Sneaking in without being noticed, however, was exactly up his alley.

Before Ranma had left Nerima, Genma had made two things perfectly clear: that the Yamasenken was to never be used, ever, and that the Umisenken was only to be used against someone using the first. Ranma was disappointed that the most powerful skill sets of his school couldn't be used, but as the creator of those skills was banning them, he would respect that. It didn't mean he couldn't make his own, however.

Ranma had spent a great deal of time trying to find another method of invisibility. In the end, he realized who he had to talk to. Tofu had the answers. After a lengthy search and a little correspondence, Ranma had a new stealth style. After a short time, he had improved it, making it his own.

Of course, having a stealth style and needing it are two different matters. In the end she saw she only needed it to run across the runway in the valley between the two hills. Between the Abrams and Mammoth tanks moving about all over the place, there was simply too much noise to notice a single girl. Still, she maintained her silence, climbing the rather significant rock face. Finally reaching the top, she saw the pilot, lighting up another cigarette, his fifth judging by the butts on the ground, seemingly waiting for the all clear to go into action. Ranma snuck up behind him, delivered a sharp blow to the side of the man's neck, and dragged him into the Chinook helicopter nearby.

An elderly man, strapped and locked into a rear seat, noticed the unconscious pilot being thrown in and spoke up to the young woman who followed the body inside, "Who are you?"

Flashing the man his usual grin, Ranma replied, "The cavalry." Touching his ear, he activated his radio to the Antaeus task force. "Ranma here, Chinook secured. You are clear to begin the assault."

* * *

"Acknowledged, Ranma." Nabiki then relayed to the vehicles, "This is Command to Kroker and Borden, begin assault. Patton, move up to the airstrip to provide repairs."

"Damn it! I am not a nurse!"

"Shut it! Minitech's working on your damnable tank, so just hold your horses! Madsen, refit for a Hornet, we need more firepower covering Patton. You and Ransom have that honour."

"Roger that, Command," came the Englishman's straightforward reply.

It wasn't long into the assault that Nabiki heard something worrying. It came in the form of Church's voice asking, "What on earth are they growing in those biospheres?" Logs from Borden's camera showed a pair of massive biosphere's over a hundred metres each in near semi-spheres, with what at first glance looked like some kind of tropical jungle, until you realized that it was one mass, and that that mass was moving as if it were breathing.

* * *

Authour's Note: Pronoun error nearly unique to Ranma. Ranma was supposed to be a she for this and I had 'he', 'him', 'his', and even 'man' in there referring to his present actions. Augh! Why can't writing stories be simple? Bah. I'll get the hand of it eventually.


	7. Ch 7: Conscription and Coersion

Disclaimer: AMWOOD co acknowledges that this product is a work of fanfiction detailing the characters and scenes of the manga/anime Ranma One Half and the video game Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising. This is distributed with no intention of profit and the characters and settings are the property of their respective owners.

* * *

Ranma sat on one of the few chairs on Antaeus in the command centre of the ship's bridge. He had just gotten back from the rescue. Well, after taking a closer at the… whatever the hell it was.

The thing in that biodome just felt wrong on every level he could think of. It was definitely alive, but in the murky air it looked like a jungle… except it was all one mass… and it seemed to be expanding and contracting as if it were breathing. The final point of wrongness was that it seemed to have an animal's spirit to it. The problem was that it wasn't like a mammal or bird or any other greater animal. It was more like an insect or spider. Very instinctual, almost entirely a series of reaction programs.

As if that weren't enough, the 'souls' were in a huff about those new anti-aircraft guns. The new ACAC of the enemy were very effective, and a few of them related to the plane that was supposed to ambush them at the wet dock. Ranma didn't think he liked the sound of that. When Nabiki played back the recorded video and he saw those towers grow to over 30 metres in just a few seconds he knew he didn't like the sound of it.

"Sort of like the early days, don't you think, Saotome?" Nabiki brought up.

"Yeah. Flung into only the kami know what with a need and little answers." Ranma wasn't feeling very pleased with how things were.

Nabiki laughed bitterly. "Remember when we signed up?"

Ranma stared at her flatly. "Right. 'Signed up'. At least you had a choice."

* * *

It was 2010. The fiancée problem had been on hold for the last number of years. Only on hold. Things were at a standstill as no one could agree what was to happen exactly, but everyone wanted to continue with their lives nonetheless. Each of those involved in Ranma's love life, or what passed for it, had gone on to higher education and employment. Even Ranma himself had sought greater learning and tutoring under masters in how to teach.

The news of the coming of the united government was little surprise to those in this group, but only because so little could surprise them. They had become somewhat jaded by now. The biggest shock had been when Nabiki had been caught with a charge of racketeering and had been sentenced to six months in jail. While she served her time easily enough, her family being very supportive, this was the kind of black mark on her record that would keep her from landing the kind of work she had been pouring so much of her life into. Add into this that those who pressed the charges were quite influential and she was looking at a very difficult life.

Then the letters came.

Ranma, Genma, Akane, Soun and Nabiki were all staring at letters. Ranma and Akane had identical letters. Genma's and Nabiki's were the same. Soun's was in the same line as Genma and Nabiki's but was worded more… politely.

Ranma read his again.

_Mr. Ranma Saotome:_

_The government of Japan has agreed with the new One Nation Earth, that_  
_a selection of the best of our youth should go into service for the new_  
_nation's military. As a member of the infamous 'Nerima Wrecking Crew',_  
_your name has been forwarded as a forced volunteer for the special forces_  
_of our new nation._

_Congratulations, Private Saotome._

He kept staring at the paper, as if doing so would make it change. "Have I been… conscripted?"

"I… I think so. I think I am too," Akane replied, looking at her own notice with equal shock. This just seemed wrong, but she couldn't bash anyone. The whole thing left her feeling rather empty.

Nabiki's letter was far less polite than Ranma or Akane's,

_Miss Nabiki Tendo:_

_The government of Japan wishes to make an arrangement with you. As_  
_we shall be joining the new One Nation Earth, we are required to hand_  
_over all public records. You, being a talented person in one or more_  
_fields, and having a record of less than stellar performance, are being_  
_given the chance to have your old record abolished. If you volunteer for_  
_military duty, your criminal record, in its entirety, will be erased before_  
_it is submitted to the One Nation Earth files. Otherwise, it shall carry on_  
_with you and the new government shall have to act in accordance to_  
_dealing with all potential malcontents._

She saw the writing for what it was: a threat. Join the military or be jailed again. She looked at Genma and her father. They had a look she had seen before. It was the same look they had when Happosai first showed up and they declared they had to go to China. They were going to run. Unfortunately that wasn't an option for her. Her strength was in using the system, not avoiding it.

"So this is how it goes, is it? In the end I have to join the rest of you." She gave a humourless laugh and said in English, "For King and Country."

* * *

"Like that was really a choice, Ranma," Nabiki snapped back. "We both know there was no way I could have passed that up. They knew it too. For that matter, your choice was the same. Sign up, be jailed, or be on the run. The only ones in our circles who didn't have to make that choice were your mother, Kasumi and Ryoga." She laughed lightly, "Not that they could find Ryoga to deliver his letter."

Ranma laughed a little at that. "So what do those pricks at O.N.E. want us to do?"

Nabiki sighed. "They want us to attack what they suspect to be the main base of operations for the cabal." She brought up the island's topographic map. "This is where intel says the leaders are."

Ranma only glanced for a second. "They're not."

"What?"

"At least not right now. I was actually acting as personal bodyguard to some African street punk wannabe. You know the type, lots of gold hanging off his neck? Anyway, they're not there. Not planning on it for a few weeks. They should be…" Ranma turned a dial, zooming out until the entire chicane was showing, "…there." He pointed to an island that was rather odd shaped, having four inlets, one at each cardinal direction. It conveniently divided the island into four sections. "They should be doing some kind of inspection."

Nabiki looked at the map. Ranma had inside information, but they may have been feeding him false information in case he caught wind of the missile strikes. They couldn't have expected what he was doing, though. Still…

* * *

Authour's Notes: Well, this is chapter/scene 7. I'd say overall, things are going well, though the story is going to be huge and will likely take a few years (I don't do fiction well). It took me over two weeks to get the last chapter, so don't count on any kind of regular schedule, but I know where the story is going, even if I'm not sure of all the twists and turns at this point in time.

Some things to point out in this chapter are the reference to "For King and Country." and One Nation Earth. The first is the common rallying cry of the British commonwealth/empire in any time of war. As one of the dominions of Britain, Canada often saw this phrase and became somewhat fed up with it during the World Wars where millions of our soldiers went to die on the fields across the ocean for a cause they didn't necessarily believe in. Nabiki is expressing equal frustration with this phrase.

One Nation Earth is a reference to a movie/book series that also involes a unifying government. The 'Left Behind' series is a very moving one, and is the last thing I've seen Mr. T in other than Warcraft commercials.

From the offices of AMWOOD co


	8. Ch 8: Traps Laid and Troubling Ideas

Nabiki was in her private quarters. She had already set the ship to proceed to the island Ranma had selected. It was a simple question in her minds. There was a reason that insider trading was illegal: it gave an unfair advantage to anyone with any kind of knowledge that would come before official releases to the financial markets. Not that such things mattered anymore with the economy having been changed so much, but the principal was the same. Ranma provided inside information so she would use it in an underhanded manner.

This is why she was surprised to feel the ship suddenly turning. It should have been going straight for nearly a day. "Antaeus, what is going on?"

**"The ship is being redirected to island zero,"** responded the feminine, computerized voice of the vessel's A.I.

"Under whose authority?" Nabiki knew she wasn't going to like this.

**"Directors Church and Walker."**

"Damn it." Yup, she didn't like it.

A few minutes later saw Nabiki entering the bridge, seeing Ranma yelling at her communications terminal. "Who the hell do you think you are?! You are not all-knowing gods, you arrogant pricks!"

_"Intelligence says that the leaders are most likely on that island, Saotome," _came Church's response.

"How the hell would they know? All their agents were captured!" Ranma's fury was still in full swing. Seems he had grown up a little if he didn't like unfounded arrogance.

_"How the hell did you know that?"_ Walker's speech was calm as usual.

"Who do you think captured them?" Ranma responded, smirking as he did so. "You sent in six people; I found five of them, myself."

_"What?"_ Chruch gasped. _"**You** captured our operatives, and now you expect us to trust you?"_

"Hey! You wanted to know how I know you know jack shit, and I told you. Tendo can make five guesses to figure out who captured number six and who made one of the ones I got to talk, but you assholes seem to think you know more than I do about what's going on."

Nabiki spoke up at this point, having to point out the flaw in Ranma's argument, "You didn't know about the missiles."

Ranma flinched, staying silent as he realized his oversight.

Nabiki walked up to the panel and spoke once more, "So you two decided to hijack my boat because…?" She held the last syllable, fishing for an answer.

_"We're directing you to island zero."_ Church answered. _"Intel…"_

"…Doesn't know a thing. Of that, at least, Ranma is correct. You're guessing. Besides, that island is a fortress. There's no way in. Better to leave it for now and nuke it with their own missiles once we have control of them."

_"We found a way past the defence perimeter, but you're still going to have to face a few of their cannons."_ Church seemed to go on, almost ignoring Nabiki. _"We'll be putting you in this harbour inlet so you can make a direct ground attack. Your Salamander attack hovercraft should make quick work of their defences allowing you to press on."_

"Why not just send the Salamanders in from outside the perimeter? Wouldn't that solve all our concerns?"

_"We're getting a great deal of signal distortion from the perimeter itself. You wouldn't have the ability to use any Soulcatcher units and would only be able to use the direct link system with one unit. Unfortunately…"_

_"…One won't be enough."_ Nabiki looked over her shoulder at Ranma, who was now standing in the far corner muttering things. They seemed to be a string of single words in about twenty or so different languages. 'It's impressive he knows so many ways to say "baka",' she thought. "I still don't like the idea of having to face so many of those towers. They seem…" she trailed off again, this time searching for a description.

_"Unsettling?" _Church put in.

"Alive." Ranma said. "I'll bet anything that those massive tubes you noticed back when we rescued Kunz are something like blood vessels. I'll also bet that they give off an EM signature similar to an insect, but on a bigger scale."

_"Why do you say that?"_ Walker piped in.

"Confirm it and then I'll say."

_"Nonetheless, we're sending you in."_ Church responded.

"You know it's a trap, right?" Ranma added.

_"And what makes you think that one, Saotome?"_ Walker challenged.

"Simple. See the gap in the wall?" Ranma tapped holographic map on the bridge's table display showing the island at the gap in the perimeter at the southern most point. "That's obviously a door. It there's as much energy going through as you think, they'll likely seal it up as soon as we get inside. No way this boat will reverse fast enough to get out once the doors start closing and they'll likely tear this thing in two if we try to lodge it open."

"So what do you propose?" Nabiki inquired.

"Don't go there, but since those two won't listen to that, just be prepared. Have your little… Magpie?"

"That's the automated delivery chopper, yes." Nabiki confirmed.

Ranma nodded. "Yeah, have that thing taken offline. No point letting the enemy towers blast it. Once they're gone, then we can use it again. Other than that, just know that you're walking into a trap." He seemed to be rather put upon by the whole thing. Who could blame him?

* * *

Sure enough, it happed almost as he said it would. They arrived inside the docking area, cleared the towers and started to move inland.

"Patton, I have a deal to make with you. If you don't complain about the size of it or that it's amphibious I'll let you use a Salamander this time with the Scalpel Gatling gun. Otherwise, you're on medic duty again. Agreed?" Nabiki waited for Patton's 'soul' to respond. There was silence from the bald head on the monitor. "Remember, one peep about it not being a tank and you'll be on medic duty again. Korolev, you get medic duty instead."

_"Who's on Scavenger detail then?"_ the Russian asked.

"Kroker." Nabiki replied.

A voice chimed in over the comm. system. _"Suck, baby, yeah!"_

"I'm regretting it already, but he is doing a good job of it."

_"Oh, come on, it's not that bad. It even gets the carpet clean, see?"_ Kroker was obvious enjoying his work.

Another voice came over the system. _"This is Madsen. The building's a fake; it's just a hologram."_

Ranma sighed. "Queue the doors."

Not only did the doors close, but they were being shielded. Apparently this whole thing was set up purely as a trap. They managed to seal the carrier and made it so that the ship's guns would not get them out. That wasn't the worst of it though as only seconds later, something started to… grow.

_"Kroker to Antaeus: I've got some kind of factory growing out of the ground here."_

_"Ransom to Antaeus: clawed towers just popped up. Engaging. Heh, they ain't firing back."_

_"Kroker here: some kind of giant slug just showed up and it's crawling down to the harbour. It's opening up and…"_ He was interrupted as the carrier shook from an explosion. _"It's firing on the carrier! Someone get here and kill it."_

_"Here comes the cavalry!"_ Patton called as he set his Salamander in. While it did manage a few more shots, the thing was promptly destroyed. _"One more for the tank corps."_

Ranma looked at Nabiki, "I need to get close to one of those things."

_"Ranma, they're giant slugs."_

"Or caterpillars."

"The bug thing again?"

He nodded. "Just get me close to one of those factories. I'll only need about a minute. Just take me in on a chopper."

"I'll do you one better. Patton, take Saotome to one of those factories, but don't engage until he gives the all clear."

_"I'm not a…"_

"One more word and you're fixing everyone up again." There was silence. "Now pull alongside the starboard platforms, he'll jump aboard."

"Sir, yes, sir," he said without the usual enthusiasm.

Nabiki directed the other 'souls' in eliminating enemy resistance. The biggest problem was that turrets fielding massive guns, they seemed to be at least 200 mm, were at the choke points to all approaches to the enemy's production facilities. Still, the Salamanders were up to the task, especially with a mobile repair vehicle in place.

After two minutes she heard Saotome order destruction of the factories and added a manually controlled chopper into the efforts. It did not take long, and Ranma was soon on ship once again. Ten minutes later, they had found and destroyed the station powering the door's force field. One shot from the carriers main guns let them out to the open sea once more. After putting a few clicks between them and the island, Nabiki looked to Ranma.

"So, Ranma, find what you wanted?" Nabiki asked.

"I think so. Problem is it felt familiar," his face expressed confusion as he said this.

"Familiar how?" she pressed.

"I felt it the last time I was on this island in one of the bunkers."

"Underground bunkers? Just great. We couldn't have destroyed those with anything we have now. Even those cannons they're designing for Patton won't do the job." Nabiki shook her head for a bit. "So, you going to make me guess who did which part with the intel team?"

"I guess not. Shampoo caught the team's leader and Moose got one of mine to talk. Didn't recognize any of the ones I caught and was taken for guard duty after, so I never saw the leader. Heard she was a real spitfire, though."

Nabiki nodded. "You said 'five guesses'. I'm guessing that Hibiki, Cologne and Kuno are the others?"

Ranma looked at her, smirking, "as long as you're thinking Kuno Kodachi, you're right. Knew you'd pick it up."

"Oh, don't worry. I know that Kuno-chan is still held up for insubordination and assaulting an officer. He only became cleared to stand trial five years ago. His sentence will keep him locked up for another ten."

Ranma chuckled. "Well, here's to small favours. Now let's go get this barge fixed up."

* * *

Authour's Notes: Well, another chapter already. It seems as long as I have a predefined plot, things are easy. Soon, though, things will begin to change. Next... not sure yet. Probably a flashback.

From the offices of AMWOOD co


	9. Ch 9: Stealth and Sacrifice

Disclaimer: AMWOOD co acknowledges that this product is a work of fanfiction detailing the characters and scenes of the manga/anime Ranma One Half and the video game Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising. This is distributed with no intention of profit and the characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. AMWOOD co apologizes that this disclaimer was not in the previous chapter, and so wishes this statement to be retroactive. Further more, AMWOOD co now states that all future chapters use the scenes and characters of the two media in question and had no intention of offence to the copyright holders. This shall be the final disclaimer.

* * *

"Now _this_ I like."

Nabiki was grinning at the screen. Showing on it was the newest development of Minitech, making use of Kunz's research. It was sleek, subtle, and…

"It looks like a glorified dune buggy." Ranma was amused. Nabiki looked like a little kid with a new toy. He just had to be the one to be the older kid telling her it was geeky, even if she was actually the older of the two.

"Only to us, Ranma," she replied, looking even happier. "To them, it looks like thin air. Do you know how often I wanted to be invisible back in Nerima so I could spy on all of you like this? This is a young woman's dream come true. Hell, it's an old woman's dream come true."

Ranma shrugged. "I can understand that. Can't count the number of times I wish I could just disappear back then." He chuckled as a thought came to him. "Why do you think I spent as much time in the Umisenken as I did when I was able to learn it?"

She looked at him. It would have been a frosty glare if not for the childish smile on her face. "Is that why you stole our foundation? To get back at us?"

"I put it back," he said with an innocent look on his face. It was much better than it used to be.

After a second they both laughed and Nabiki turned back to the controls. "Well, this is still what I was hoping for." She turned to Ranma, the look of someone with a brilliant idea on her face. "How would you like to learn how to drive these things?"

"What?"

"Oh, come now, Ranma. You must be dying to be behind all this power. This thing could easily take down an Abrams, probably go toe to toe with a Mammoth or two, and can only be seen if you want it to. You must want to try it."

Ranma had to begrudgingly nod. He'd seen the Mammoth tanks. The MX-6 was designed as an anti-armour/anti-air war machine. It was about fifty percent larger than an Abrams in each dimension and had two massive turrets. Also included was a full set of Surface-to-Air missiles, making it the most diverse and powerful of the Cabal's land units. It was, however, taxing on production, meaning that they were never built exclusively, as the M1 could often do the job and so more was simply overkill. Against the units of Antaeus, however, even the mighty Mammoth was small fry.

"Sure." Nabiki stepped aside and he went up to the control stick. "So how's it work?"

Nabiki spent some time with simple controls, taking the time to be thorough. She even had a simple Pegasus cargo chopper built to teach him the controls for flying vehicles. It was hardly a drain on resources. She went on about special controls, then started to show him the 'war room' command centres control scheme. Something seemed fishy.

"Nabiki, why are you showing me all this?"

"Just in case, Ranma. I may need to go ashore to do something you can't and I'll want an able commander here to watch my back and keep my ship in one piece."

He nodded. It made sense. Besides, he had to admit that it was rather fun, and a bit intoxicating. Being able to make, unmake and control all these things had a ring of the power of a god to it. Even the layout of the war room added to it, making you feel as if you were looking down on the field of battle, deciding what your little minions would do for you.

So far, the repair mission was going well. They had arrived at this island in need of resources for the automated repair system to finish its work. The amount reserved for battle units was rather small, but was put to quick use. Now, after having harvested two supply depots from the island, they had a massive reserve, but something they had found had encouraged Church and Walker to order them to continue exploring. They had seen helicopters, an Apache and a recon bird, modified by the same living material as the AA guns they had encountered during the rescue and at island zero. The fact that _mobile_ units were so changed demanded investigation. As of now they had found a massive enemy base on the south east of the island, which included a dock. This dock had missiles. Big ones. Intercontinental missiles, like the ones that had attacked the cities.

In addition to that they had found three large, dome-like structures. From the reading received, Church had supposed they were targeting arrays. Nabiki was getting a very bad, but very excited feeling.

Now, they were driving the Puma stealth vehicle north from the base. _"The land looks barren… diseased."_ Church rang in as they entered 'Area 4' of the island. Sure enough, where the rest of it had been lush and green, this was looking light the sight of some kind of vegetation plague. The trees were withered, most completely bare; the grass was brown and sick looking, and even the ground itself looked as if it had suffered a great upheaval. Then they saw it.

"By the kami…" Ranma rarely cursed like that. Now, however, he was filled with massive dread. It was a thought that the helicopters were a test of something new. What he saw threw that out the window. Before him was a base, just as massive as the one on the south east of the island, and every part of it was infected, or maybe blended, with that same organic mass that was in the choppers and guns. Massive turrets with large organic spikes sticking out the top, production facilities with 'breathing' tentacles, even the large MX-6 Mammoths had large growths surrounding them. The walls seemed to have veins, making the place seem like a massive hybrid between living things and metal constructs.

"Walker? Church? Do you see this?" Nabiki was obviously shaken by their discovery.

"_Yes, Captain. Don't stop, though. We need to know how large the facility is,"_ Walker said.

Nabiki nodded, a useless gesture as Walker wasn't watching, only listening. "Aye, sir." It amazed her that anyone could be that cool when seeing this. Just what had that man seen?

The little recon vehicle moved about, following the main road. It led to a set of massive doors. Not as large as the ones at island zero, but large enough to keep a tank out until it decided to try and blast through. Despite not being visible, the doors opened for the Puma.

Ranma squinted at the screen. "Those look like…"

"_Captain, you've stumbled on the missile silos I don't need to tell you what to do."_

"Roger that." Nabiki replied. She had just looked about and decloaked the Puma when the silos began to open up. "No, not now!" she screamed at the display.

The missiles were launching.

"Die, damn it!" she screamed again as she pulled the trigger. The puma released several hundred rounds at one of the missiles. It wobbled and began to veer off course as the thrusters became damaged, but while she took the one out, five more had launched.

Nabiki swore while Walker spoke, _"Captain, you need to destroy the missile guidance arrays. Once they're destroyed, the missiles will ditch in the sea."_

Nabiki looked at the tactical map. All three arrays were known. They had managed to search most of the island. Unfortunately, the cannons' creation engine had only manufactured two set of rounds for the main guns. She looked at the map some more, then started to move. She marked all the of the arrays with markers, two red and one green. Then she surprised everyone. "Ranma, make Pegasus units to grab those containers we found and haul them all to the north west array. Then have a Hornet attack helicopter with the longbow missile array on standby. I need to do something."

It took Ranma a couple of seconds for what she said to sink in. "What? You want me to attack these things?"

"No, Ranma. Just put those explosive containers next to that one. These things will be too strong for our guns, but a bigger bang should do the job. Tankers full of rocket fuel should be enough." She looked at the console. "Antaeus, fire main cannons: one shot at each red waypoint."

"**Acknowledged, main guns firing,"** the ships voice replied.

Nabiki turned to the still staring Saotome. "Get to work! I have something do get ready!" She then went to another computer console and began typing and tapping the screen.

Ranma turned to the control centre. He knew how to do it all, it just seemed so easy, but the job was monumental. He quickly built the choppers and even had two of the souls assigned to them, Kroker in one and Korolev in the other. "Alright you two. Gather these containers," he walked over the two war room map and indicated the explosive payloads, "and drop them at the base of that dome."

Kroker chimed in, "Then what?"

"Then get back here. I don't want anything over there."

The two helicopters left the main creation bays and headed out to get their cargo. As they did so, Ranma watched the display confirm the destruction of the two arrays the guns had fired on and readied the combat chopper. The hornet design was acquired from the very chopper that Ransom had been in during his last fight. With its retrieval was his own. Ranma assigned the flying ace to the helicopter, armed with a missile set that paralleled the best of what the Cabal carried, seeing as it was stolen from them. "Ransom, stand by for further…"

Nabiki charged in, knocking Ranma aside and began her work. She prepared one more hornet, this one commanded by the sniper, Madsen, and another Pegasus with a unique add-on. "Nabiki, what's that?"

"'That', is going to give us an edge, Ranma." Nabiki replied with a determined look on her face. "Ransom, Madsen, escort unit designated Hijack. I'll be flying it personally." She then took the controls and directed the Pegasus to the array.

Ranma looked at her. He could only think of two words to describe what he saw as the Pegasus lowered its winch line with the odd attachment at the end which stuck to the array: pleased and dreading. She looked at him with a look he'd seen once before and hoped he would never see again. Someone who knew death was coming and was doing their all to ensure that it would only take them. "Don't look at me like that, Nabiki."

"Sorry, Ranma," she said, a smile coming to her, "but this is the only way that Church and Walker can't interfere anymore. They managed to tie their control to my name."

"Nabiki, don't. We can work around them."

"_Captain Tendo, what in God's name are you doing?"_ Walker said.

Nabiki rounded on the comm. centre. "Something that you can't stop. Antaeus, acknowledge Ranma Saotome as second in command of Antaeus prototype zero-zero."

"**Acknowledged. Ranma Saotome is now first officer."**

"Nabiki, no!"

"Antaeus, activate protocol 'Hijack'." With that, Nabiki suddenly stiffened, throwing her head back in a silent scream and then began to fall. Ranma quickly rushed in to grab her, catching her limp form.

"Nabiki. Nabiki!" Ranma yelled, smacking her face.

"_What the devil is going on over there?!"_ Walker shouted.

"_Wouldn't you like to know?"_ Nabiki's voice came in over the comm. system.

"_Captain, what did you do?"_ Church asked.

"_Oh, I'm not Captain, anymore. The Captain is dead. Long live the Captain!"_ Nabiki's face, her twenty year old face, appeared on the screen. Above it was 'N. Tendo' is roman letters. _"I've activated my little plan. You see the Hijack unit is actually a means for the Pegasus's soul to interface with any device it comes in contact with. As it's attached to the last guidance array, I now have control of the missiles. I'm not ditching them in the sea."_

"_Oh, God. You're going to kill us."_ Walker said.

Nabiki laughed. _"Oh, nothing of the sort. I just wanted to be sure that Ranma was free of your yoke and to get my own revenge on these bastards. There's a little island nearby with nothing but military capabilities and I'm landing half the missiles on it. The other half I'm sending to island zero: I'm reducing it to a crater."_

Ranma looked at Nabiki's face, her real one. "Nabiki, how are you doing this?"

"_Oh, God." _Church spoke up, _"She activated her chip."_

"Chip?"

"_Walker, didn't you say that everyone who served on an adaptive cruiser had the soulcatcher chip implanted?"_

"_Yes, Church, even Captain Tendo did. It was supposed to be in case she was killed but the cruiser was still intact so that we could send in a new captain without having to debrief them personally."_

"But now I'm in command," Ranma said, sullenly. "Nabiki, I don't want this. Why'd you do it?"

"_Because someone has to and I needed to make sure those two couldn't foul things up by taking control again, because if I did then the mission didn't die with me, and because I have nothing left to lose. I've lost my family already and my loyalty was gone when they forced me to join this cursed military. This way I could die with at least some honour."_

"_Damn it, Tendo."_ Walker's voice was controlled, but slightly seething.

"_Eat shit, Walker. I've released your little toy into the hands of someone who can destroy the Cabal with their own knowledge. Be grateful, your little war is about to end. Captain, I would also like to report that the missiles have reached their targets. Mission accomplished."_

Ranma stood up, still looking at the now empty shell that was once the body of Nabiki Tendo. "All souls, return to the ship once someone blows up those tankers. Someone pick up Patton in the Scarab. Antaeus, once everyone's back take us out to sea."

Church's voice spoke up over the comm. sounding very uncertain, _"Mr. Saotome, what do you intend to do?"_

"I'll finish what I've started. The Cabal have taken the most important person in my life and a dear friend. I'm going to end them."

* * *

Authours Notes: Well, another one up, and the first major change. Those who don't know the game are going to become shocked at just what those missiles did. Normally, they just splash into the sea, but I'm going to assume they are the same kind that were supposed to be loaded in the now atomized subs in what would have been the next level. Hint: little to no actual explosive force.

As to Nabiki's death, she's as dead as Ransom, Kroker, Patton and the other 'souls'. More on that in the next chapter.

From the offices of AMWOOD co


	10. Ch 10: Rites and Realizations

Ranma was in the command room late that evening, doing what sailors do when they have a break: get wasted. "To fallen comrades! May their memories be preserved for all time and their honour always be remembered." He held his glass of whisky up in a drunken acknowledgement to his own toast and then downed the glass in one gulp.

Nabiki's face smirked on one of the screens, the other souls each occupying others so that the full crew were present. _"Here, here. Though I'm sure this isn't exactly what you mean when you say 'memories be preserved for all time', is it, Ranma-kun?"_ Nabiki's young face smirked.

Ranma's wrinkling mug looked up at her image and frowned. "No. No, it isn't." He studied her for a while in silence. "How much of you is still there, Nabiki? That Kroker guy said that they were only imprints of the people that originally had those chips."

Nabiki's face remained smiling, as if amused at the honest question. _"I would say about twenty percent of who Nabiki Tendo was is now me. I have her decision making preferences, her short term and working memory, her self-image, and most of her personality. What I don't have is her creativity, long term memory or body. I will turn left if she would have turned left, but I don't know if that's because of some old superstition, a phobia against left turns, or just a random decision. Also, don't ask to share old anecdotes. I know I like to call you Ranma-kun, and that it drives you up the wall to hear it, but I have no idea why." _Her grin became rather catty as she added, _"Honestly, I don't care, either. It's fun."_

"So you're each about twenty percent of who you were?" Ranma looked at the others, lingering on Ransom for a moment trying to recall more of the pilot.

Sinclair spoke up. _"Actually, I'd say we're about fifteen percent. Miss Tendo's chip was more effective at storing data from her death as technology has advanced, but the neural interface hardware has not developed any significant amount in the last twenty years."_

Ranma stared at the well-spoken British soldier for a few seconds. "Meaning?"

"'_Meaning' that more of her brain was downloaded before she was completely brain-dead but not much more,"_ Sinclair finished.

Ranma nodded. "So are you really Nabiki, or are you someone new?"

The image of Nabiki frowned at him. _"Think of me as her with amnesia if you have to. I'm as much her as I can be and you'll just have to live with it."_

Ranma nodded again, this time looking rather sombre. Kroker spoke up at his left, _"You're a depressing drunk, aren't you?"_

"I just sent an old friend to a watery tomb; how should I feel?" Ranma snapped back.

"_I would say just as depressed as you sound, Captain."_

Ranma turned to the external communications console at the sound of the unwanted voice. "So, Church, is Walker there with you?"

"_Right here, Saotome,"_ came Walker's voice. _"There's something we need to discuss."_

"Just as long as it's clear that I'm in charge of this ship. Nabiki made me in charge before she…"

"_We're not arguing that, Captain," _Church interrupted. _"What we want to do is talk about what you'll be doing next. Are you aware of what those missiles Captain Tendo redirected did to the islands that they hit?"_

"Can't say I am or that I've cared," Ranma replied. "I've been a little busy conducting funeral rites."

"_Well take a look at this,"_ Walker said. On one of the war room's table, an image appeared of the designated island zero. _"The missiles Captain Tendo fired struck in three locations here. One at the high point near where the generator was, one further north where the derricks were and one more to the south where the doors that blocked Antaeus were located."_

"Is that all? She just made a bunch of craters?"

Church's voice came alive, _"Not entirely. There have been people swarming over the damage at the location of the generator. Apparently that was a rather important base of operations for the Cabal."_

Ranma nodded, a look of loathing on his face. "Good. They need to hurt."

Church continued, _"The worrying thing is what happened at the other island. It appeared to simply be a standard military construction site, having a variation of those hybridized units you encountered near the silos, but after the missiles hit, something truly disturbing happened."_

"_The island has disappeared."_ Walker put in.

"What, you mean it's cloaked or it was blown up?" Ranma asked with a devil may care expression on his face.

_Church answered, "Neither. Far as we can tell, something is eating at the buildings, the concrete, even the very rock of the island. It's almost as if the island was dissolving. We would like you to send a Pegasus over the island with a Scavenger equipped Scarab unit. The analysis beam of the Scarab should be able to identify what it is that is changing the island so rapidly."_

* * *

"What do you mean, they've escaped?" a large African man asked a soldier. "We kept them sedated, locked up, immobile and completely dependent on us."

A little figure to his side shook its head. It was maybe two feet on its own but, perched atop the three foot staff, managed to come up to the man's neck. Cologne sighed at the stupidity of some of her allies, especially the more petty leaders. "We've created them as adaptable weapons, capable of thinking and fighting their way through the best that the old governments could have come up with, and you think that simple holding tanks would keep them? Their physiology would adapt far too quickly for that if we let up even a little. The missiles that hit us yesterday just happened to provide such an opportunity."

"So where are they then, crone?" The man demanded. He was promptly swatted on the top of his head with the stick.

"Mind your manners. I joined you to reacquire the control over my lands that were stripped by the O.N.E. Those barbarians came in and took everything from us." She was fuming. The memory of the arrival of the Chinese assisted forces of this new world order were burned into her mind.

"For a warrior culture, you sure are sore losers," he pointed out, mockingly. "'Three thousand years of Amazon tradition' and you couldn't last more than a week before they showed you how outdated you were. It was practically a militia that attacked you, peasants given guns, and they met you casualty for casualty against your warrior stock. Congratulations, a lifetime of toil devoted to learning the warrior arts is equal to putting a gun in the hands of an untrained nobody."

Cologne shook with rage. She had witnessed it. She had seen it as farmers from neighbouring towns that the Amazons had lorded over, given that kind of weaponry, were able to overthrow her sisters that had protected them and kept them safe from outside influences for so long. They had kept away the contamination of European thinking, Japanese influence, and the decrees of pretending emperors for all this time to be shot in the back. Well, she wouldn't have it.

"Seethe all you want, old woman, but you're the same as the rest of us; we each had what was ours taken from us and we aren't going to sit back and let them have it. It simply wounds your pride that your outdated ways aren't capable of matching a properly armed and armoured force."

Cologne then turned a feral look at the man. "Ah, but that's where those three were to come in; they are a personal touch, perfection of form, purpose and ability, capable of making weapons that will drive fear into the populous." She looked at the three smashed containment tubes in the sealed room that she and her companion were standing outside. "Those three beauties will be found again, and we will unleash them on our enemies. We will either break their wills or destroy them until there is nothing left. I won't let what was once mine and my peoples' fall into the hands of outsiders."

The man nodded. "Now, that I can agree with."

* * *

Church looked at the results of the scan taken earlier that day. They horrified her.

It was only five days since the missiles had stopped. Five days since the Antaeus prototype had destroyed the guidance arrays of the silos. Five days since the most devastating weapon on earth was unleashed. The atomic bomb, which accounted for hundreds of thousands of deaths and the end of and in the aftermath of the second great war of the twentieth century, took second place to this.

The island that the sample had been taken from was gone. There was just sediment floating on the top of the ocean. Sonar scans of the sea bed revealed nothing indicating the island was there. In fact, it appeared that a recent underwater volcano had opened up, swallowing the entire area of the ocean's floor in brief magma as if the crust itself had been fractured. That sediment, however, had the answers.

Assemblers. The same kind used in the carrier's creation engine. These were powerful little devices, being one of the great products of nanotechnology. They could make anything at an atomic level, given enough resources and time. Additionally, they were so small that as long as they were coordinated, adding more would speed up production linearly for all practical purposes. Creation engines on the streets allowed each citizen to access food, clothing and other necessities of life at will. The much larger engine on the adaptive cruiser allowed for combat vehicles the size of houses to be ready in mere moments after the command was given.

These assemblers were different, though. They had only one purpose, to rip everything they come upon apart at the elemental level. They were disassemblers.

If whatever had these disassemblers had been used on a city, then all the buildings, all the people, everything, would have been turned into dust and gases. Since the disassemblers were still working after five days, as the scanner had shown, any rescue attempts would have been in vain as anyone who came in contact with even one disassembler would have eventually been destroyed one atom at a time. It would be painful, deadly, and nearly unstoppable. Only massive EMP therapy would work, and assemblers had been made resistant to electromagnetic interference to deal with random photons and radiation given off by whatever substance they may be handling. It would be a plague that would destroy the very fabric of the land until they reached the mantle and molten rock erupted, destroying the disassemblers with the extreme heat.

The thing that made this worse was that the only one they could count on to battle this threat had a grudge against them. He was a turncoat from the other side. He had no loyalty or love for their civilization, and had no reason to save it other than letting so many people die wasn't right. Church had a hard time accepting that; too often she had seen people shed their morality for their own goals and needs. She believed in their society, but not in the people that made it up save a very few who had weathered the temptations of power.

Now, all their lives rested in the hands of Ranma Saotome since they had no way of making him heel. Church feared for the tomorrow of this wonderful world she had made.

Author's notes: Well, took a look at soulcatcher a bit more, though not much, I have to admit. I've got the next battle being mapped out in my head and it will be the perfect place to explain the interface. For those who don't know the game, I'll explain more to not keep you in the dark. Got to the creation engines as well. Hostile Waters is set in a utopian society with no currency. Who needs money when everything you want is just at the nearest corner and clean burning fuel can simply be produced by the creation engine of your car?

Took a look at the Cabal and Cologne's presence in it. It's not that I don't like Cologne, but I wanted a familiar face for pushing the Amazon agenda. She's basically given a great big 'Kiss of Death' to the O.N.E. and is not going to settle for a draw. If she seems a little begrudging, that's exactly the case. How would you feel if most of your home was wiped out by your former subjects?

Disassemblers: their one programming, 'break it apart'. What a horrid weapon. For those who know the game, I figure the launched missiles were conventional as the Cabal wanted to break the moral of the world and it wouldn't be good to have them all start dying while you are negotiated a truce. It was the submarines on the island in question that had disassemblers.


	11. Ch 11: Death and Desertion

She was afraid.

The others were mad and wanted her to be mad too. She knew they had reason to be. Things were done to them, awful things. They weren't the same people they were when it had all started. So long ago it was. But now they had a bond.

That horrible bond. It was how she knew they were mad and wanted her to be mad. They wanted her to join them, to join their madness. The others got away and were going to spread. They were going to do what they wanted, what they were supposed to do.

She just wanted to get away; get away from this place, the others and the changers. Get away from the memories, the pain, the silence, the heat. Get away and recover. Maybe she could be rescued, saved from the changers and the others.

Maybe someone could save her from what she had become.

* * *

Ranma stared at the tactical map in the war room. The operation would begin tomorrow. The place that the Cabal were making these weapons that they would destroy everything with was just a day away. The anticipation was killing him.

"_It's become personal for you, hasn't it, Ranma?"_

Ranma knew Nabiki was being serious with that as she hadn't said 'Ranma-kun'. "Yeah. They've cost me an old friend.

(begin flashback)

**We were on our first mission out of training. It was what we would later call a smash and grab. Get the download, files or informant and blow the place sky high.**

_Ranma, Shampoo, Ryoga, Akane, Ukyo, Konatsu, and Mousse were rushing down the corridor of a high rise building. The massive height of the building visible through a few of the windows._

**We had told the occupants what was going to happen as soon as we began. We had bombs planted that demolish the place thirty seconds after we left. We thought everyone had left.**

_They turn a corner, Ukyo at the lead position. As they pass a corridor, a spray of blood emerges from Ukyo's left side and she collapses._

**It took just one fanatic to ruin everything.**

_Ranma and Konatsu rush to Ukyo's side while Ryoga throws one of his ki-balls and Mousse launches a series of weapons to the group's right. The view pans, showing a man with several sharp objects protruding from his headless body._

**If it were just one fanatic, things wouldn't have gotten worse. We heard more of them coming.**

_The others in the group look down the same corridor the now dead soldier is in. They all seem startled. Ranma reacts first, ushering everyone else down the corridor._

**Konatsu wouldn't leave his Ukyo-sama.**

_Konatsu pushes against Ranma. When Ranma grabs him he gives a brief struggle, freeing himself. He looks at Ranma with a firm resolve, obviously not intending to leave._

**I didn't have time to make him. He would rather be with her in the grave than live to avenge her.**

_Ranma gives a look of utter defeat before turning to follow the others. Konatsu turns towards the corridor the corpse is in, a drawn sword in hand. He rushes down the corridor, out of Ranma's sight. A few bullets fly through the intersection followed by a burst of blood. Ranma then dashes around a corner, seeing no more._

(end flashback)

"I've… Ukyo was my oldest friend, Nabiki. Konatsu was the most loyal person you could ever find. They didn't deserve that."

"_They never do,"_ Nabiki's image responded, _"but it's everyone else who must carry on their memories and dreams so their sacrifice and lives were not in vain. This Konatsu sounds like he did what I did: gave his life when all seemed lost to give everyone left a better chance while getting some payback."_

"Yeah, I guess he did."

Ranma and Nabiki stayed silent for a few minutes before continuing to plan their next assault. They were pretty sure Walker and Church were going to be pissed.

* * *

The new one was gone. The sister was getting ready to leave. They wouldn't abandon the new one, but she wasn't like them. She didn't want to meet their purpose. Still, she was one of them, and they would share their new ability with her.

The changers thought to contain them, to make them compliant. The changers thought that they could be controlled. The changers thought they would spare the changers. The changers were stupid.

The sister would go to the old land, instinct driving her there. The new one would find a place to hide, but they knew where to find her. They wouldn't make her come, she would come on her own. They had. It would just take time. Eventually she will see. They would send messages to her, though, the bond and their new ability would let them share with her so that the new one wouldn't die before she joined them.

And she, she would be right here. She would take over for the changers. The changers wanted something perfect, something that would do better than they could. So she would replace the changers, make this place her home, and prepare for her purpose.

She would take this place, this 'island zero' and make it the starting point of their new world.

Authour's note: Short little chapter added on. Meet Ukyo and Konatsu's fate and meet the real enemy.


	12. Ch 12: PostMortem and Prisoners

They were pulling away from what was probably their most significant mission to date. They had finally done it. The missile construction plant was demolished. Actually, it was more than demolished, it was being atomized by the horde of assemblers that were stored there. It would have been a moment of complete celebration for the souls and their captain if not for one, little, oh-so-tiny detail.

"_So, how many times did you die_?" Kroker asked their newest member.

Nabiki's image shook her head in the virtual meeting place where the souls congregated. "_I think it was only three times, but then again, I was on stealth duties."_ She shook her head a little more. _"I really should have trained the old bastard a little more. How about you?"_

Kroker smirked. _"None. The man seems to like me in the Scarabs, doing the housework. Works for me if I don't have to get killed ten times."_

"_If you're lucky,"_ Borden added. _"I was killed seven times by the enemy and twice by Patton's damn cannons."_

"_Hey, stay the fuck outta my way when I'm blasting them!"_

Nabiki's avatar gave a sigh. _"Well, he's learning, but this was the worst operation yet. We need for him to improve quickly."_

"_It's not just his lack of experience,"_ Korolev added in. _"Those hybrid units were powerful. We haven't really faced them before and now we just saw how powerful they can be. Those Mammoth tanks must have been twice as powerful as the normal ones."_

Ransom nodded at that, _"And those were made to take down anything on land or in air. Those Apaches were tough, too."_

Madsen piped in, _"Even their weapon systems were upgraded. Where did they get all this?"_

Borden looked over them all, giving a huff of frustration when they didn't come up with an answer. "_Remember those biodomes?"_ They all nodded. _"Care to wager that what they were growing in there was the same kind of thing they're putting in the vehicles?"_

"_What about the airfield before the wet dock?"_ Everyone looked at him oddly. _"Hey! I've got my tanks, now I'm ready to work with you! Anyway, recall the airfield where the enemy's original ambush was stationed before the wet dock?"_

"_Right before we met Ranma?"_ Nabiki inquired. _"We were supposed to destroy a craft that had a sabotage unit. Instead we encountered some kind of…"_ She broke off mid-sentence, a look of horror spread across her face.

Patton nodded. "A _living weapon. Something that you could plant and it would attack everything in the area."_ Everyone now shared Nabiki's look. _"We may have stumbled on something a bit more ferocious."_

"_The stone, we still have that stone from the airfield."_ Sinclair pointed out. _"Wasn't the cruiser's A.I. working on deciphering it?"_

The female, monotone voice of Antaeus's A.I. responded, _"Affirmative. The data storage device recovered from the enemy airfield is been deciphered. Completion is estimated at forty six percent."_

"_Can you tell us what it's purpose is_?" Sinclair continued.

"_It is classified as a culture stone, developed so that the artificial species that created it could reproduce their culture from a small amount of genetic material, nanotech assemblers, and raw materials. By this method, they have developed a means of emergency reproduction. It also contains a history log of the origins of the species."_

"_What do we know of this origin?"_

"_They were developed by one of the old world governments originally. Purpose and means unknown. They're newest transformation has been centred around that adaptation of three human women to act as control mechanisms for an entire host. By using their minds for the logical and intuitive capabilities inherent in human beings, the Cabal have made the species more efficient and effective."_

"_Oh God,"_ Madsen gasped. "_They've turned people into things like those vehicles?"_

Sinclair looked stoic, a rarity for him. _"What else, Antaeus?"_

"_The species hold a deep grudge against the Cabal, referring to them as the changers. The three women, the sisters, feel that the changers have betrayed them. There is no other relevant data at this time."_

"_Do we know who the 'sisters' are?"_ Nabiki asked.

"_Negative"_

* * *

Church saw walker across the room as she entered. He was taking some form of medication. She could guess what it was, having just finished the same briefing he had likely just finished pouring over. She still felt the need to verify. "What is that on the menu?"

"Just acetaminophen, Church. Saotome's antics are giving me a headache." He shook his head and held the bottle up.

Church took the bottle, opened it, confirming what he said, then took two pills herself. "Good point. Still, not all is lost."

"Nothing's lost, we just have no means to reinforce his methods. We haven't been prepared for war for two decades and now we have a barge full of P.O.W.'s with no jail, jailers, or wardens ready to keep them." Walker stayed seated, obviously frustrated, but not moving much. Church had noted how he seemed to stay calm while seething at everything around him. It let him keep a cool head. "We can't just kill them Church, but how do we keep them?"

"I suppose the best we can do is direct them to one of the island's we've already secured and maroon them there." Church looked out the window, one of her own habits that was a telling sign. She knew she did this when she was contemplating herself and what they had done ― or would have done. "Walker?"

"Yes, Church?"

"He's more merciful than we would have been." It wasn't a question, mostly.

Walker didn't respond right away, obviously giving the question proper thought. "I think so, Church, but he's closer to the situation than we are and from another side. We've been seeing only enemies killing our own. He sees other men and women who may have been tricked to helping self-serving despots, just as he has been. He's giving them what Tendo's already given him: a second chance."

"His methods still amaze me. Broadcasting a message verbally from all his available units that the island was to be destroyed and telling them to evacuate in five minutes." Church shook her head in disbelief. "Then to have one of the Scarab vehicles scanning each person leaving the facility's eastern exit and heading for the boat to make sure they didn't carry weapons, disassemblers, or data-storage devices."

Walker's expression didn't change from the slight frown marking his face. "He did have to shoot someone, though, when they tried to bring a weapon aboard. Likely some fanatic wanting to kill all the traitors."

"Still, he did manage to save a hundred lives. Lives we would have taken in a quest for vengeance." Church looked out upon the city. "When did we begin to lose our humanity, Walker? When did we forget that those we left behind are people too?"

"We haven't lost our humanity, Church. The fact that we feel so poorly of how we would have acted proves it. The only thing we can do is make sure we don't actually fail when the decisions come for us to make them."

"And when we realise we've already done so?"

"Pray that we can right what wrongs we've made and continue on. We've not lost our humanity, Church. We make mistakes. The thing to show we're good people is to correct those mistakes."

She continues to stare out the window, gazing at the pristine city. The place she had helped create. The place that abandoned people like Ranma Saotome. She didn't voice her last thought of 'But how?'

* * *

Authour's Notes: So, here we are with HWRR chapter 12. As the game Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising isn't known well, let me sum up the first few levels which were skipped by this story.

1 and 2: The cruiser has just emerged from the sea floor and is in desperate need for repairs. Autorepair systems are working, but raw materials are needed. You collect these materials as well as aquiring a wrecked helicopter (Hornet class) with the soulcatcher of Ransom. However, Antaeus is attacked by scout choppers.

3 and 4: Hunting for the helicopter manufacturing plant. You stumble upon a missile platform that engineers back home quickly modify for use on your vehicles (called longbow. Mid-range, low damage per second, semi-guided missiles). A transmission broadcast is intercepted when the helicopter plant is finally destroyed.

5: The intercepted transmission indicated that a sabotage attempt was to be made on the cruiser at wetdock. The airfield that this is at is nearby. While securing a beachhead, a hovercraft is found, captured, and assimilated into Antaeus's available unit systems (this is the Salamander hovercraft). The airfield is found, and the plane destroyed, but massive tendrils emerge from the wreck, flail in the air then plant themselves in the ground. Towers pop up and immediately begin blasting apart your units. They are eventually destoyed. A husk about fifty feet tall where the plane wreckage is is broadcasting on a low EM frequency and interfering with your units. The husk is shot open revealing a large blue crystal which is then brought aboard. For purposes of this story, the crystal was purple.

6: The wetdock. Final repairs are made while the enemy attacks with Apache and recon helicopters as well as VTOL bombers. This is where this story began.

That should do. Also, I just want to point out to everyone that Church and Walker, in spite of how bad I may make them seem, are not bad people. They are some of the good guys, but they've fallen into a classic trap of those in lofty positions: 'My way is the right way'. They are learning, as you can see.

Thank you all for reading. From the offices of AMWOOD co


	13. Ch 13: Strange Weather & Stranger People

**BANG!**

"Damnit! Don't they ever quit?"

It had been another long day so far. The oddest thing was the weather. Here they were, just a few degrees south of the equator, and it was snowing. Why on God's green earth was it snowing? That answer came to light in the form of two massive cold generators. They were air conditioning the area on a scale that would make all of Tokyo comfortable in the middle of July. The result was a blizzard on what should have been a tropical island.

**BANG!**

They had also found the carrier and were attacking it relentlessly with hybrid attack helicopters and hybrid VTOL bombers. The bomber he jumped out of all that time ago would have been bad enough but the munitions these were dropping were three times as powerful and the bombers were twice as hard to destroy. Ransom was doing a good job of keeping him alive, and the repair vehicle on the deck was making sure Antaeus wasn't taking any lasting damage, but a lucky hit to the bridge could prove a very bad thing.

"_Found the energy production, Ranma,"_ Nabiki's voice came in. _"Destroying it now… done. That's the last of it."_

"Finally."

"_So, what do I get?" _Nabiki kept up.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? You did your job."

"_Cheapskate."_

"Sorry, I don't take criticism from dead people well. Now, how's everyone else holding up?"

"_Much better than last time, if I say so myself,"_ Sinclair came in. He was his usual peppy self.

"_Doin' just fine, Captain. These guys ain't so tough once you know how they work,"_ said the air combat multi-ace.

"_Here, here, Ransom."_ Yup, that would be Patton.

"_Clean up's a bitch, though." _…and Kroker._ "Man you guys sure make a mess. Can't invite you anywhere."_

"_You know you like it, Kroker."_ Great now Borden's joking.

"Stuff it, the lot of you. Now that the enemy's out of resources, I can get this done. That hovercraft we sent in should be arriving shortly." Ranma glared at the controls. "Why the hell didn't they make soulcatcher work over longer ranges?"

"_The range is fine, Ranma,"_ Nabiki replied. _"The problem is that this fortification is causing some kind of jamming to the receptors for the vehicle's soulcatcher interface. We're just lucky that your direct controls work on a much higher frequency."_

"Yeah, yeah. This way I have to do all the hard work."

"_Quit your bellyaching and get the job done,"_ Korolev shot back. _"Sir."_

"Shut up. I'm coming to… what the hell is that?"

On the screen was something from a science fiction horror movie. It was about half the size of Antaeus, was obviously made of the same hybridized flesh and metal technology as the vehicles they'd been fighting, and it had just picked up something that made it glow blue for a moment. Then it turned towards the hovercraft and the humming started.

"What's it doing?" Ranma ran the vehicle behind cover, then the lightning flashed. "Damn it all to hell! I'm under fire!"

"_What do you want us to do, Saotome?"_

"_Just blast the damn thing!"_

"Quiet from the peanut gallery!"

The fight was long and difficult. The blue glow that he had seen had been from a force field generator of some kind that the thing had picked up before it started attacking. The rounds from the Gatling gun did eventually wear down the shield and attack the… whatever it is, destroying the gun that was firing, but that just caused the whole monstrosity to rotate and start firing with a different weapon. It was getting very annoying.

That's when he heard, "No! Go away!"

This surprised Ranma considerably. "Did any of you just speak over the comms?"

Sinclair replied, "Negative on that, sir. Communications has been quiet."

"Stop! Just leave me alone! I don't want to go back!"

Ranma could only puzzle over what was going on. "Antaeus, identify where that voice is coming from?"

"_The errant transmission is originating from the construct that the captain's vehicle is engaged with."_

That… didn't make any sense. "It's talking?"

"_Negative. Something upon the enemy craft is speaking aloud."_

Ranma stared hard at the screen. He couldn't make out what the carrier was talking about. "Zoom in and display in screen 4."

A moment later, he saw it. A person. Sort of. Wildly panicked, still shouting to stop and leave, and naked, but not exactly. This person had growths, sections of torso and legs having red protrusions that covered like padded clothing, but receded under the flesh where they originated.

"We'll deal. First thing's first, destroy those damned guns," Ranma spoke, mostly to himself.

The overall battle was over in only minutes. The Salamander class hovercraft wasn't doing well, but it would still run and fire.

Ranma glanced at the zoomed in image of this mysterious person who had sat upon the enemy weapon. She, or at least he assumed it was a she due to her figure, still sat upon the now dead thing and appeared to be muttering to herself. "Antaeus, activate external speakers."

"_Acknowledged."_

* * *

She was afraid. They had come. They were going to take her. Take her away. Take her back. She didn't want to go back. She tried to fight, but they were too strong. She tried using this machine, made it like her, but they beat it. Now she was too weak to keep going.

"**This is Captain Ranma Saotome of the Adaptive Cruiser Antaeus to the unknown person upon the Cabal device. Surrender yourself, and you will be escorted to the surface peacefully."**

That name. There was something about that name. "Ranma?" she asked herself. She tried to remember but it was all pushed away. Taken away. Stolen from her by those that made her like this. They'd taken everything, but she could recognize things she once knew. The sisters were wicked to her, so she didn't trust them. The changers she didn't trust since they took it all.

But this name sparked so many different thoughts. "Ranma?" she tried again. Frustration, caring, annoyance, friendship, kinship, anger. But there was also longing. She wanted this Ranma. She didn't know why and didn't care, but she wanted to go to him.

She looked down and jumped to the ground. She raised her hands and said, "You'll take me to Ranma?"

* * *

Ranma was confused. Now that she, and it was most definitely a she, had calmed she seemed almost normal in attitude, but she knew his name?

"Yes, I'll take you to Ranma," he spoke into the microphone. "Hop on and the vehicle will drive you out."

She nodded and jumped aboard. This was also confusing. She had jumped off of that thing from earlier. That jump must have been forty metres. No normal person could survive that. Granted, he had survived that when boarding the ship, but he wasn't normal. Then again, neither was she. The jump onto the Salamander was also impressive as the vehicle was about seven metres tall.

"What's your name?" he asked, hoping for more information while the vehicle sped out of the complex.

She seemed lost at the question. "I… I don't know. I can't remember. They took it from me. They took everything. I… the others call me 'youngest' or 'sister'. The changers call me 'newest' or 'third'. One of them calls us all 'child'."

"Us?" Ranma was perplexed. What did that all mean? He stepped back from the mic and spoke to the ship, "Antaeus, any idea?"

"_This vessel had previously acquired a data storage and manufacturing device identified as a culture stone. Within it was contained information about the origins of the biomatter that is being used upon the enemy vehicles. Identified among the data was that three humans had been similarly modified, referring to themselves as 'the sisters'. It is likely that this person is one of those three."_

Ranma was significantly surprised at this. He didn't expect that much of an answer. "Why wasn't I informed?"

"_It was before you arrived on the vessel, Captain."_

"Nabiki, Why didn't you tell me?" Ranma's voice was beginning to growl in his frustration.

Nabiki's computerized imaged seemed to shrug and gave a simple, _"Oops. Must have slipped my mind."_

Ranma sighed. Even when she was dead she mocked him. "In that case, you can bring her to shore. I'll have a Pegasus meet you there."

When the Salamander emerged from the base, Nabiki's Puma, a four-wheeled stealth vehicle, was waiting. Ranma didn't anticipate Nabiki's next words. No one could have.

"_Akane? What did they do to you?"_

_

* * *

_

Author's Notes: Right, it's been a long while since I've last updated. All I can say is, 'oh well'. Writing is not easy for me, but I'm making an effort to finish this guy, but I had to decide how to work this chapter. Next few chapters, things pick up, and the story moves in the direction I've had planned all along.

Thank you for reading. From the offices of AMWOOD co


	14. Ch 14: Self Righteousness and Self Pity

"_You said she was dead."_

Church responded to Nabiki, "_Tendo, it was a covert operation. We had no way to contact her."_

Ranma was impressed by the image of the woman speaking to her former bosses. Nabiki was all business. It had already been about twenty minutes and she wasn't letting that issue drop. Every time they brought up something else, she quickly dealt with it and mentioned, once more, "You said she was dead."

"_Fine. We lied; we had an operation to keep under wraps,"_ Walker finally said.

"_No, not fine. After I came in command of Antaeus you should have told me. Instead you continued to play games with me."_

"If you thought there was any chance of her being alive, what would you have done?"

That brought Nabiki up short; first for it being a question she couldn't answer right away, second for it coming from Ranma and not Church or Walker. _"I… I don't know."_

"That's why they didn't tell you. In your place, I would have searched everywhere for someone as important to me as your sisters were to you, Nabiki."

There was a painful silence as everyone digested that. One artificially preserved personality coming to terms with herself, one man respectfully keeping his silence, and two trying to maintain the temporary verbal truce while fighting their own consciences.

Of course, respect for others can only keep one silent for so long. "Just to let you all know, Antaeus has completed the scan of Akane. The results are troubling to say the least, but it confirms what I've learned about that stone in the last few hours." Ranma moved to his chair and sat down, looking at the three monitors that displayed the faces of those he was talking to. "First, her genetic structure has been massively altered. The ship figures she has the genes of her original self, this artificial flesh, and about twenty different variations of hybridization to keep it from killing her."

"_So they didn't simply graft this onto her?"_ Church inquired.

"No. They made it so it's now a part of her. The original genetics are mostly just the nervous system, but the other sets are just as much part of her now as her eyes. If she cuts herself, it will grow back to how it looks now." Ranma looked particularly disgusted with this. This wasn't right. "The biggest changes are reproductive."

"What do you mean?"

Ranma looked up, choking down the bile that threatened to come up as he continued to speak. "She makes those crystals and assemblers now."

**

* * *

**

**It was supposed to be a simple undercover mission.**

_Akane, looking about fifty but fully human, is on a helicopter as it is landing at an airfield._

**It was supposed to be like a dozen others I had done before.**

_She steps off the chopper, looks back at the pilot, and gives a quick wave._

**My team was to already be here. We knew each other's faces and would meet in a week.**

_She runs to the nearby bunker to get out from the wash of the blades. Stepping inside, she turns to give a curt thanks to a guard._

**They already had my team.**

_She is struck on the back of the head and all goes black._

**I remember the pain.**

_A flash showing Akane screaming in agony._

**Constant pain.**

_Another flash and Akane's leg can be seen. It is cut open above the knee in a foot long gash. Something bright red and fleshy is nestled inside the wound._

**They didn't stop.**

_Another flash. Her chest cavity is cracked open as if an autopsy were being performed. Similar growths to the one on her leg have been placed over her lungs, heart, and various abdominal organs. She seems conscious, if not aware._

**I wasn't the only one, either.**

_A flash showing two more tables to her left with women on them as well with similar wounds but the growths are much larger, more enveloping._

**I just wanted them to stop. I wanted to leave.**

_Akane is now floating in a tank, wires and tubes attached to her body._ _The other two women are in adjacent tanks as well. They are now unconscious._

**I just wanted to get out. Dreamed that Ranma get me out.**

_Memories of her childhood flash, of the many times Ranma saved her from one peril or another._

**But can he save me from what they made me?**

_Akane now sits against a wall of a strong room in the carrier similar to where the crystal is kept. She has her legs drawn up in the foetal position and she has her arms clutched around her knees._

**I was Akane Tendo, but what am I now?**


End file.
